Court: state must give inmate, who assaulted teen boy, a gender reassignment surgery

Mason Dee Edmo, 31, has his constitutional rights abused, this is what the federal judge and the appeals court said. Dee Edmo is a transgender person who sexually abused a 16-year-old boy. Now the state of Idaho is obliged to pay for Dee Edmo's gender surgery.

Dee Edmo's victim, Brady Summers recalls in a statement that Edmo never showed feminine characteristics when he raped him. “Never once indicated anything of gender dysphoria or sexual indifference,” said Summers. “He was a predator. He, on several occasions, had his way with me. It was brutal,” recalls the teen boy. He also added that Dee Edmo beat him up with frying pan when he tried to escape.

Despite Dee Edmo's claims that he is a woman, "trapped" in the male body, Edmo has been housed in men's prison. He was also denied gender change surgery, but the prison facility authorities provided him with hormone therapy. U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmell announced in December 2018 that Idaho violated Edmo's constitutional rights (8th Amendment) and now is obliged to pay for his gender reassignment surgery.

"For more than forty years, the Supreme Court has consistently held that consciously ignoring a prisoner’s serious medical needs amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” wrote the judge in his ruling. The ruling was appealed later, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Winmell's ruling.

"In contrast to Edmo's experts, the State's witnesses lacked relevant experience, could not explain their deviations from generally accepted guidelines, and testified illogically and inconsistently in important ways," the appeals court announced.

Now Edmo and his lawyer are happy. "Our client is immensely relieved and grateful that the court recognized her basic right to medical treatment, " said in a statement Edmo's lawyer, Lori Rifkin. Now Edmo is also seeking monetary compensation for the damages from the state and its contractors and for violating his/her rights.."Prison officials don't get to pick how and who they treat based on their own biases and prejudices," concluded Edmo's lawyer.

Not everyone is content with the court's decision, though. Republican Gov. Brad Little announced that he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.